verlaine1979

Well, no - he should be anywhere between 33% and 62.5% as good, so he's only a brace off the pace...

I thought this too. First half-hour they were all over us, then just backed off once they had the goal. We had a few sniffs after that as the stats show, but at no point did we create the kind of pressure and chances Arsenal did in the first 25 minutes.

They definitely eased off once they got the goal. Before that they were swarming us every time we had possession at the back making it almost impossible for us to get attacks started. Not a bad performance so far, but Arsenal deservedly ahead, despite the jammy nature of the goal.

They look quite a bit better at this pressing game than us...

I'd forgotten quite how awful our defending could be at times. Sobering reminder.

Passing was dodgy from the start today, but was pretty much unplayable against Fulham & Stoke, so clearly has the capacity to do far better when he's focused.

If that's really the case we might as well stick with S Davis, because a No. 10's who combines Gaston's talent with a win-the-ball-at-all-costs work ethic will set us back at least double our current transfer record.

Oh come on, that's ridiculous. I don't have much time for the people who make dull sport of having a go at you, but to write off a striker of proven international quality after fewer than ten starts is just stupid.

That's two exceptional performances in a row from Wanyama & JWP. Lambert never really got started, so it's a shame Osvaldo wasn't available

I.e. not risk free at all. Scoring even the jammiest of goals to pull a game back to 2-1 always seems to give the chasing team a massive boost if they manage with 5-10 minutes left on the clock.

Guly has been a Poch close-out sub in the past, hasn't he (Chelsea last season rings a bell)? With 12+ mins left and no need of a goal, he's tall and hard-working, so I can understand choosing him over a specialist no. 10 like Gaston.

Brilliant performance. Wanyama stood out for me; absolutely tireless in getting the ball back, and didn't put a single pass astray all game.

Thanks, that means a great deal to me. One day, with the care and support of people like you, I might aspire to reach the emotional level of the vast majority of English football supporters. I know it'll be tough, but you've got to have a dream, eh?

Your mistake indeed - I wasn't talking about support, I was talking about enjoyment. I support Southampton, but that's the extent of my irrational sporting loyalty that doesn't care whether a game is dull as long as the result is right. The rest I watch purely for the skill and spectacle, and since England rarely bring either, I have no particular interest in whether they qualify or not.

Because there are reasons to watch and enjoy football that go beyond tribalism?

I doubt spurs expected to ship three at home to West Ham when they were at the time the equal best defence in the league. We're solid these days, but we'll still get tonked at least once this season, and away at OT is as likely a place as any.

Only Roma (conceded 1) have a better defensive record than us out of the top five European leagues.

Great subs today - JWP helped fox out a lot, and Jrod stopped the Swansea defence camping out on the half way at a time when they were absolutely rampant.

Tough game. I'd say on the face of it, Swansea have a couple more match winners in their XI than we do today.

So, lets assume for a moment that Gaston proves to be absolutely worthless, eventually leaving on a free (personally I think this very unlikely, and expect him to eventually prove himself an excellent player, but that's immaterial here), my question is - so what? We look a good solid mid-table team. We're not going to go down because of Gaston, just as we'd be unlikely to suddenly turn into CL contenders if he started playing well. Who really gives a crap what kind of player he turns out to be?

I think it's pretty obvious we paid a small-club premium when we bought Gaston. If one of the big Italians had come in for him then the gravity of their reputation would no doubt have depressed the price and he'd have gone for well under £10m. Considered in that light, I don't actually find his inconsistency that surprising, though obviously I do find it extremely frustrating during matches, but that goes for anyone who gives possession away sloppily.

I take your point about pace, but it's worth noting that Osvaldo is actually just under a year younger than Ronaldo, so I'm not sure his lack of a yard can be attributed to age just yet.

You can watch the nutjob link minus adds by going to http://cdn.tvs.re/stream23n.html (it's the embedded video frame)

Good grief :/ Are we under some kind of curse?

Is it me, or does Wanyama always seem to underhit his passes just a fraction?